Towing Issues: Towed from Santa Ana condo complex, city of santa ana, gmc yukon

Question
My wife is a Realtor and took a client to a condo complex in the city of Santa Ana around 8 P.M. in the evening.  The entrance to the complex has no control gate but she later observed signs posted on the fence that read "Private parking only - subject to tow."  There are no lights on these signs. She parked her vehicle in a legal marked parking spot with no signs posted.  The parking spot in front of her spot did have a sign posted "compact cars only"  She drove our GMC Yukon.  Anyway she and her female client walked into the complex and returned 15 mins later to find her vehicle was missing. A security guard advised her that the vehicle was towed for not having a permit and being parked in a compact spot, but remember her spot was not marked with any sign.   There was no 1 hour monitor of her vehicle.  The security guard and tow never contacted Santa Ana PD to advise them of the impound.  No photos were given to my wife of her vehicle.  She and her client were basically left stranded in a not so safe city.   I called Santa Ana PD and reported what I thought was illegal activity by both security and tow company.  They called the tow company and the tow company offered a $40.00 dollar discount on the $260.00 fee they were going to charge us.

What is our recourse?  The tow sheet(receipt) had no time listed of the tow?  22658 (a)(2)VC reads "The vehicle has been issued a notice of parking violation, and 96 hours have elapsed since the issuance of the notice."

Is 22953(a)VC cancelled by subsection (c)"does not apply to property at residential property,.....?
22658(C)(i)VC  We were never given any photocopy of the written authorization for the tow.  We were never given (iii) the telephone number of the appropriate local law enforcement or prosecuting agency by stating "If you believe that you have been wrongfully towed, please contact the local law enforcement of prosecuting agency."

Answer
it sounds to me as it was a "gray area tow" which means to me at least that some of it is legal and some is questionable...

If the lot requires permits then since she did not have a permit she was illegal. Yes some realtors have signs on their vehicles, but still its hard to tell what and where the person is at. Remember that the vehicle just does not "TELL ANYONE" why its there...

Now the receipts and pictures are things which according to the law are required, and as such sounds as if there are regulations and laws which were broken or at least bent...

Talk to the local law enforcement agency and DMV as they are the ones who regulate the towing business.

Also the 1 hour law applies in most cases but there are provisions which allow for towing right away... The notices for 96 hours tend to only apply for "abandoned vehicles"

Do you think it would be right and legal to leave a vehicle in the middle of the driveway for 1 hour or 96 hours ?

And VC 22658 has a lot of sections, but people do not read the WHOLE THING...  

And there are also other sections in the California DMV which deal with parking.  

Check out the link below and see what I mean...

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc_index_p.htm


As to what to do, check with DMV and see what they say, and you have the small claims court also which you can use.